FOR a club with a proud history Otley Cricket Club currently finds itself in a strange position - second from the bottom of Division B of the Airedale and Wharfedale League and staring re-election in the face.

One of the oldest cricket clubs in the county, Otley CC was formed in 1820.

There are records indicating that cricket was played in Otley even before this date.

It was a time when the artist J M W Turner had already voyaged to Italy to paint his watercolours after painting many works from Farnley Hall with Otley's cricket ground in distant view.

Initially the club played on ground now occupied by the cemetery and moved to its present Cross Green ground in 1862.

At the same time as the club played its first Cross Green match, George IV's Queen -Caroline - was being tried before the House of Lords under a Bill of Pains and Penalties.

In this first year, a certain William Ward, playing for the MCC at Lords, scored 278 against Norfolk - a record which was to last for more than 100 years until it was broken by Yorkshire's Percy Holmes, who scored 315 not out against Middlesex in 1925,

For the first 73 years of Otley Cricket Club's existence, it played friendly matches.

In 1893 the club joined the Wharfedale and Airedale League with matches of two innings duration when bowling was all underarm and there were no boundaries.

On June 14, 1841, Wetherby scored 40 and 76, of which no less than 33 were extras (13 and 20), Otley scoring 26 and 24, with a wide as their only extra.

All England

There is also a reference to a match against Leeds Coburg, which Otley won by 10 wickets.

Otley's first professional was a player named Luke Reaney from Sheffield and he was engaged in 1875 and was employed every day from 2 pm to dusk for £2. 2s a week.

In 1881 an All England X1 played an 18 of Otley and District at Cross Green and were rather overrun.

After the 1914-18 war Otley arranged a series of friendly games and, in 1919 joined the Yorkshire Council League.

Their first season however is very much being mirrored by the current side with few victories to their name.

It is not expected that the same sort of notice will appear on the pavilion now as appeared then.

It said: 'This pavilion and all the material for sale, cheap, including the players. No reasonable offer refused!'

The year 1935 was their last in the Yorkshire Council before they joined the re-formed Airedale and Wharfedale League and a year later became league champions.

Waddilove Cup

In 1942 Otley started their run of Waddilove Cup success and also won the league title.

After losing to Earby in the 1939 final they came back - after the competition was suspended for two seasons due to the war - to beat Menston.

Menston were dismissed very cheaply, falling for 46 as Henry Daphne took 5-33 and J Warburton 5-10.

The side was captained by W Bishop and included a young Harry Bolton and Raymond Scarr who were to write their names in the league record books.

The following year they retained the cup with Daphne again in form with 7-22.

Otley hold the record for cup wins with 11 from 16 final appearances.

In the late 50s and early 60s they had three more final appearances, winning them all with the likes of Reg Cliffe, Bernard Groves, Don Holdsworth and David Watkinson in their side.

The most famous victory was on Ilkley Cricket Club's ground in 1960 when they won the Waddilove Cup for the third time in a row, against Horsforth.

The 70s brought further cup success with three final appearances and two wins and in this period banned Yorkshire off spinner Geoff Cope played as a batsman in the 1972 final.

This was dominated by Ray Beadle (98), Mike Bailey (83) and John Harker (41) - all names which made Otley a force to be reckoned with in this period.

The year 1976 saw the first appearance of all-rounder Chris Smith in a final.

He was to make his mark on the side over the next 20 years - spells at Idle and Yeadon apart - as he dominated both batting and bowling.

His best final was in 1985 when he took 8-25.

Unfortunately for Otley, Smith is now virtually a spent force at first team level and they have found it hard to replace his skills.

He has achieved the double of 500 league runs and 50 wickets on four occasions and he also holds the record for the highest individual score in the cup competition, with an unbeaten 201 against Adel in 1980.

With the demise of such as Harker, Bailey, Beadle and Smith, Otley are struggling to find replacements, although they have promising young talent such as Yorkshire Schools player James Davies - son of former first teamer Steve.

Otley is a club with proud cricketing traditions, a superb ground and high standards on and off the field and they will. battle hard to regain their former glories.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.